Mister Kerman

Yeah I donno about all these "can't-land" shenanigans, but I have a lot of trouble not doing donuts and wobbling on the runway taking off...

I know you guys probably scoff about Mun missions, but this is my first in literally a year since I last played on my new vanilla career so I'm rusty. Here's how it went. I posted a little further back explaining my mission goal. Crew/EVA reports, goo, thermometer, and science jr.s in Low and High orbit conditions around the Mun, and EVA reports from a Low polar orbit above every biome. I think I could have missed some but I got every one of the KSP wiki listed biomes so that's good enough for me. This rocket cost just about every last cent I had so this mission would have practically crippled my space program if it wasn't a success. I worked out the kinks in my rocket design and it went almost flawlessly. (I experienced phantom forces practically the whole time. EVA reports were difficult to get without losing control of my craft once stepping outside. Time warp was helpful in stabilizing it to get back inside if it managed to pick up too much rotation speed and get away from me!) http://imgur.com/a/OdNf7 I think I have enough science to start working on a proper Mun landing and get even more science. Either that or observe Minmus in the same fashion with better equipment! Very excited to be playing this game again.

Hey guys. Long time lurker, first time poster. Been playing vanilla KSP for a few years on and off and recently got back into it and started a new career. So far I've been focusing on money-making and upgrading my facilities but I think it's time to go to the Mun. I plan to bring a couple of thermometers, science jr.s, and goo canisters for "High" and "Low" in space conditions and snag an EVA and Crew report for "High" as well as all other biomes in a "Low" polar orbit. I'll post again once I get back (safely) to Kerbin. I'm having trouble building a very simple Mun rocket though. It used to be really easy, but it seems these days the aero might be a little different or my gravity turn sucks... or something; Not sure what. Maybe I can post a photo of it if I'm still having trouble tonight.

That's coo. I would have followed it too.

Haha dangit. You managed to quote my spelling error. I thought I was going to fix it all sneaky-like... Anyways thanks for the speedy reply! I'm leaving this topic unanswered until one comes along. Probably just another bug we'll have to learn to live with until SQUAD squashes it; even if they have tiny boots on and have to stomp on it a few times until it's actually dead.

Hi, I was wondering if there's a surefire way to make sure something is perfectly "straight" when you rotate something. Generally when you build something in the VAB or SPH, the root part will by default face North(..?). All assumptions aside, there is no reference point for the editor to determine which way is the "right" way for something to face when you're adjusting the rotation. Example: I have a tail fuselage part (The cone shaped tail, I don't remember what it's called.) which I would like to attach fixed landing gear to with mirror symmetry. Because there is an angle and it is not perfectly straight (in regards to which direction the rest of the plane is facing), I'm forced to eyeball the angle when adjusting it with the roatation gizmo. This can be a little bit off if I don't do it perfect, resulting in catastrophic unplanned disassembly on the runway. If a part is facing the usual 90° incriments and made of right angles (such as a cylindrical fuel tank or structural piece etc.) this isn't an issue and you can rotate with the "angle snap" activated which always snaps it into the right position easily. Am I stuck eyballing degree by degree if right angled parts aren't used or is there a better way? ALSO: When I adjust their position with the "move" gizmo, landing gear tends to act super crazy and floats to a new spot usually not attached to the craft, and I can't tweek it to go where I want, generally forcing me to leave it wherever I place it originally. I can still rotate them fine, but it's very troublesome if their exact position on the craft matters... Which of course it always does. Anyone have a trick for getting around that?

I made my first plane in my new career since picking up KSP again a couple days ago. It's much kookier than my usual designs but it felt very Kerbal. It flies fantastic and I landed it on the dirt runway first try in IVA. (Getting reacquainted with my old friends Radar Altimeter and Vertical Speed Guage!) I think it's a very good sign this career is going to go well. Very excited to be back in the pilot seat! EDIT: I just realized it's probably really bad forum etiquette to post photos of a screen when I could be posting a screenshot... I bug my girlfriend with nerdy KSP nonsense through texts and decided to share it on the forum not thinking about it. Hopefully panties don't get twisted over this.

Yes. The brains are starting to slither over to this thread now. They can smell the math.

Accept failure... REVERT!

Alright brains. Crawl out of your brain-holes so this thread can become life-encompassingly interesting. I aint good enough at math for me to have any input! >:[

I opened KSP for the first time in about a year and started a new career. I've been reading about the changes in the last couple updates and I'm extremely impressed how SQUAD's been handling bugs and features. Excited to see how performance is improved by Unity 5 as well. Good job SQUAD. :3

Haven't played in probably about a year and a bit. I'm poking around on the forums again... ...This is how it starts. Usually when I take a break from KSP and come back it's changed a bit from updates and I just start a new career to ease myself into the part tweaks and new features. Career mode is awesome and I'm excited to be excited about this game again. Time to put down my guns and pick up a test tube.

Lol I should come crawling back sometime soon too. Think I might wait for the update though. Been focusing on different more important stuff lately but conquering technical challenges in KSP is oh-so-satisfying.

They always come crawling back.

Well that's better than a rabid tasmanian devil down your trousers...

Mhm. (5 Chars...)

Yeah the tech tree is pretty forgiving on default settings. You can unlock practically the whole thing with a couple minmus/mun landings with a couple biome hops. Sending a manned capsule to a planet in a low polar orbit can get you a free crew report/EVA report/applicable experiment you've unlocked, of every single biome and return it to KSC if you aren't too sticky on squeezing every last drop of science you could possibly get out of a celestial body I hate biome hopping. I try to do historical style space missions for the most part, but in order to get all the parts I need I'll usually send one lander to Minumus to hop to 3 or 4 biomes before heading back to Kerbin so I can unlock everything I need to start doing things the way I like to do them. I think the most I ever got was a science number over 4000. Not sure the exact amount.

I thought they look really quirky and neat. I've never legitimately used one outside of training though.

Actually I was thinking that too. Only I wasn't going to say anything until I read your guys'comments lol. Is this some kind of subtle philosophical metaphor of our impact on the planet by Hagen Von Tronje? Back on topic: I don't yet...

Top down. Usually command module with a service module under it. Science gear aint cheap. Everything beyond utilities is just the staging for me generally, and no subassemblies. Every rocket is unique. CM/SM gets a decoupler under the bay, so the CM and bay/gear survive; nothing else. ... ..Well, except the Kerbals.

That's trippy. My game hasn't crashed on me yet. :0 EDIT: Might be worth mentioning my game is stock. I've never tried to mod it.

Yeah, this is what I do. Very simple. You're putting the elevons on the back. I sort of "shove" them into the wing. Push forward enough with the mouse and they will allign the proper way. After that take angle snap off and fiddle around with it with the gizmos. The hard part is just getting it to sit in-line; but it's not that hard with this trick, and you won't need to worry about them being upside down or anything crazy like that.

Capi3101: That RCS ports in the cargo bay is genius. StarHawk: I usually reserve a short tank of LF specifically to get into orbit. Everything else is LFO tanks. Any oxidizer I bring back down with me just gives me a gauge of how efficiently I got myself into orbit. Thank you very much for your SSTO breakdown! Also... what is this "drag is king" nonsense? :} Panzer: Whooooooah. That's a serious SSTO. I don't think I'll be able to pull off any wizardry like that for a while yet. Very cool stuff.

Val: You really know your stuff. I'm definitely going to reread these posts before I try designing another craft. Capi3101: Also very helpful. About reaction wheels; I would like to use them, but it seems like everytime I use the MK2 size SAS unit, the thing blows up. I mostly use it because of the battery, but like you said more control is never a bad thing. Everyone else: Most other things I have a pretty good handle on. Mostly focusing on trying to make my craft minimalistic as possible without sacrificing performance. I don't want unnecessary drag or weight etc. So if anyone else has some craft "ingredients" they'd like to share, that'd help show some trends!

Appreciate the tips Val. Although I've read a few guides and get the principals, I just want to start making better MK2s before I move up to cargo capable MK3s. I might try angled wings, but I'm not sure how that will affect my in flight behavior (AKA prograde node being just a hair higher than it should be I think? Maybe not?) This format I chose was specifically to see the balance of other people's successful designs. I want to see if someone is using a "X-amount-of-tons" craft, how much lift and engine power it will need roughly, without forcing people to go into details or flight profiles. I welcome that extra information from people, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for. Just raw "ingredients" for successful SSTO spaceplanes. EDIT: Just looked at you craft. I was trying to reduce size and in turn trade it for engine power and basically make an orbital bullet, but you craft seems to be heavier as well as having less engine power. Once again, I always try to shove stuff into space whre maybe I should try a lottle finess. Your plane is like a fat figure skater; graceful and large. Mine is more like a midget being fired from a cannon at a circus... DOUBLE EDIT: I hate canards lol. Trying to avoid those regardless of how terribly useful they are.